Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Xbox360 will cost $299, PS3 set for $500?

Totalvideogames may not be able to spell ´Walmart´ correctly, but they have had word from one employee working there. Let´s tune in:

Wallmart slaps an unsurprising price-tag on the 360...

Unconfirmed reports stemming from Walmart employees have today suggested a North American retail price for the Xbox 360 and its launch titles, allegedly set to arrive in shop stores on November 4th.

Naturally a smidgeon of sceptism should be maintained until Microsoft makes an official announcement, however the $299.99 price point hardly appears to be out of the bounds of possibility and suggests a pound/dollar equation when Microsoft's next-gen format is launched upon UK shores later in the month. As widely believed games appear to be slightly more expensive then many would hope with the likes of Perfect Dark Zero and Project Gotham Racing 3 marked at $59.99.

No surprise there. But still interesting to know exactly what the Revolution will be up against in terms of price tags. As we probably all know, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) is preparing everyone for the fact that their PlayStation3 may cost quite a bit. In an interview with Beyond3D, NVidia´s CEO writes:

Jen-Hsun Huang: My customers aren't concerned about my costs, but they are concerned about my price. I have to sell it too them at a price that makes sense, they care about power.

Jen-Hsun Huang: I'm not even too sure there is a perceived barrier at $499. We need to price it at a level the enthusiasts will buy it at, that's the way that we think about pricing. We think about the pricing of this in the same way that Sony thinks about Playstation 3's - its not about how much is costs, its about what is the price it needs to sell at, and we need to figure out how to make money underneath that.

Downtalking the $499 barrier while mentioning the PS3 is quite something, I must say. To recap: In July, SCE president Ken Kutaragi said (according to GameSpot): "I'm aware that with all these technologies, the PS3 can't be offered at a price that's targeted towards households." Only a month before that, IGN quoted Kutaragi as saying: "Our goal for PlayStation 3 is for consumers to think to themselves, 'I will work more hours to buy one'. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else."

After all, Merrill Lynch Japan Securities was quoted (by GameSpot) as estimating the initial production costs per console to be around 54,000 yen, which comes to $494.

You´re absolutely right. It´s been Nintendo´s strategy all along to deliver the best possible gaming console for the cheapest price, without any unnecessary multimedia features (according to them, anyway). Consider you can get the GameCube for $99 now - a console that can easily stand its ground against both competitors - with some of the best videogames ever. Consider that Nintendo is still making a profit on that machine. Then we get to understand that a true gaming revolution can also be the cheapest console around. That´s no contradiction in terms.

Thanks, anonymous. Right, everyone. In case you´re interested: Nintendo will hold their press conference at Europe´s biggest game expo, the Games Convention, on Wednesday 17th of August, 10:30am. The motto is (apparently): 'Expand the Definition of Gaming'.

However, I must add that Germany is not an important market for console gaming. In Europe, the UK is the biggest console market. So don´t expext any huge announcements - let alone something being revealed. if we get lucky, though, there might be more hints, even little details. Hang tight, people. I´ll be there.

UK is the biggest market in Europe for gaming., but i think us Irish are second only to The Japanese themselves, when it comes to console/games per head of population.... hmm it would nice to see the unvieling of Rev in Dublin... :) ;)

Hi Takeshi_Kovacs. Thanks for your comment. You´re right, UK is biggest - but only as far as console is concerned. With regards to PC games, Germany is Europe´s biggest (and I believe the world´s second).

But you are from Ireland then? I didn´t know Ireland had a large console market. Interesting. Which console is most popular over there? Is it pretty much like the rest of Europe?